STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police are responding to reports of a nearly naked teenager who was wandering New Dorp Lane in his underwear and shoes Thursday afternoon.

The incident happened at about 12:40 p.m., and one user has already posted a photo of the teen on Twitter.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear, and the Advance is not providing a link to the photo.

Oakwood resident Shane Fair, 36, said he spotted the teen as he was driving on New Dorp Lane, near the New York Public Library branch, got out of his car and rushed to his aid.

"I took my shirt right off and put it on him," Fair said.

An NYPD spokesman said the boy, who's about 14 years old, was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze.

It's not yet clear where he had come from, but law enforcement sources are referring to him as emotionally disturbed.

Fair said he contacted police and tried to comfort the boy, who had a bus pass in his hand. "He was so adamant about just going home," Fair said, adding that the boy explained that he lived in the Orthodox community in the Willowbrook area.

He seemed traumatized, Fair said, but didn't describe what, if anything, had happened to him.

Fair said the underwear appeared to be ripped, and another witness described what he was wearing as a "makeshift thong."

Fair said that he noticed a teen following the boy with a camera phone, and he was disgusted that a photo of him is already making the rounds on Twitter.

"My first reaction was to give him the shirt off my back," Fair said. "This kid's reaction was to put him on social media."

The unidentified young man was walking in both directions on New Dorp Lane, according to a local store owner on the block.

He passed by the JHU Comic Books store, shocking one of the employees.

"I had to do a double take," said Danielle Ward, assistant manager at JHU. "I didn't know if someone did that to him or he was being a prankster. Kids walk by here a lot doing things for shock value. He looked sad."

Police and EMT officials picked the boy up in front of Rep. Michael Grimm's office on New Dorp Lane.